- Yesterday, I went walking downtown Los Angeles
with Nancy Loveland and her daughter.
We met many homeless people.
Some with serious health issues.
One gentleman had sores on his arms,
that oh my gosh, he had cavities and holes,
and just talking about it, I get creeped out.
And there's another woman who had a tumor in her abdomen,
just like you would see in Africa, not Los Angeles.
These people need help.
So one of the things that Nancy and her daughter
kept asking is, who do you call Mark?
Who do you call?
And to be honest, I don't know.
We met a gentleman on the streets 37 years, 37 years.
We met many people out here for far too long.
We ran into Jocelyn.
Jocelyn you might know from Invisible People.
Wonderful woman, but she's been out here 15 years.
So, who do you call?
Who do you call?
Now I know in the UK, they have a program
called No Second Night Out in StreetLink,
where you can tweet, you can call,
you can send an email.
There's an app, where if you see a person sleeping rough,
what they call homelessness in the UK,
an outreach worker comes out 24-7 and helps them.
And also, there's help if you are a rough sleeper,
a person homeless, you can contact
through the app, through the website.
You could tweet them, and an outreach worker comes out.
Now, please, I'm not criticizing any homeless services here.
It's just a lack of funding, lack of resources,
lack of housing.
And I know, I mean gosh,
Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority,
they send out 50 outreach teams every day, oh my gosh, 50.
(police siren)
But Los Angeles County is huge.
And there's over 50,000 homeless people here,
according to the last count.
And you know, the count's always just a good guess.
The number is so much more.
So there's programs like Rapid Re-Housing now.
Rapid Re-Housing, let's say if you're a family
or individual and you're out here experiencing homelessness,
and there's a chance that you might be able
to work towards self-sufficiency in a year or whatever,
Rapid Re-Housing will pay your rent, great program.
Permanent supportive housing for people that are vulnerable,
the most vulnerable, close to death
that use up the majority of services,
paramedics, emergency room,
I mean I agree with that, let's get them
into permanent supportive housing.
It saves lives and saves tax payer money.
But then there's this gap like Jocelyn,
who might not necessarily qualify
for permanent supportive housing.
And oh my gosh, she's got a felony.
She's been homeless 15 years.
The chances of her getting a job, oh my gosh,
that's why there's this gap.
Now why we need to fill that gap,
we need to stop, is because somebody like Jocelyn,
who may not be vulnerable now,
the longer she stays on the streets,
the more she will be vulnerable.
So who can we call?
Who can the general public
I believe and being with Nancy and her daughter yesterday
really reinforced that I think the general public
want to do something, they want to take action,
they want to help, but they don't know what to do.
There's a huge information gap, education gap,
and you know, who do they call?
Who do I call?
I don't know.
I mean, here in Los Angeles, the winter shelter program
is happening, and I know that's seasonal
and people can get help there.
But during other times of the year,
I don't know who to call.
I don't, and I'm well-connected here in Los Angeles.
And I'm just using Los Angeles as an example.
This is an issue in every city that we need to solve.
(atmospheric music)